Apacer Technology Audio Steno AU822 User manual

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La es reviews
Apacer Audio S eno AU822
17/10/2006
Well it seems there are man manufactures aiming to provide slim mp3 pla ers to compete in what is now a ver
competitive market and toda we see a similar trait from Apacer with its AU822 MP3 and video pla er with built in FM
radio and voice recorder.
The small box provides a window which reveals the AU822. Overall the packaging is nothing special and seems like a
standard box with no distinct features. In fact there is no clear big text apart from the letters MP3 which standout from
ever thing else printed on the box. You would’ve thought it’d be the product name.
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Upon opening the box and removing the contents ou will find et another box which looks almost identical to the outer
box except this time in white rather than emerald green.
The basic package consists of the pla er, earphones, USB lead, and a quick start guide.
Oh dear, what ou immediatel notice is the unoriginalit of the design straight awa . Has the iPod Nano had a
influence on the AU822’s design? It doesn’t just stop there though.
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Yes even the AU822’
s back is finished off with a reflective metal back. In fact when comparing it to the Nano side b side
there isn’
t much difference at all. Ever thing from logo placement and overall appearance is strikingl similar (see below).
As ou can see there is cause for plent head scratching as to what Apacer were thinking at the time when the went
through the designing stage. Despite the somewhat copied design the Nano is still thinner than the AU822.
Getting past the similarities the AU822 shares with the Nano, let’
s take a look at what is actuall has to offer.
At least the buttons used for operating the device don’
t share the exact same design as the Nano. You are provided with
some fairl bright orange buttons with a mode button in the middle. It’s kind of like a d-
pad found on game controllers so
should be eas to use, hopefull . On the side ou will find the main power switch and USB port. The bottom (again like
the Nano) features a standard 3.5mm audio port. That about covers the ph sical features of the device.
Tes ing
Ultimatel and obviousl we need to put it through some tests so we start with ease of use. Like man good MP3 pla ers
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toda , when ou pick them up ou should be able to navigate through its menu s stem without too much trouble that is,
if the buttons have a logical la out and operation. In more than 3 pairs of hands the AU822 proved to be a challenge. The
buttons do not operate in the wa that ou would expect them to and especiall since the ’
re placed in a wa similar to
man other controller st les it makes it a little anno ing. To switch the device on ou press and hold on the pla button
for about 1.5 seconds after which ou are presented with a rather goof animated ‘Welcome’
screen with flowers in the
background. Another downside is noticed upon switching the device on and that’
s its low resolution screen in comparison
to the Nano’
s. Each feature can be selected b using the up and down buttons and the are represented with large low
resolution animated icons to help ou distinguish each selection.
Unfortunatel things get ver anno ing and awkward when ou’
re in pla back mode. As mentioned earlier, the buttons do
not work in the wa that ou would think is common sense. Pressing the left button will make the volume icon flash on
the screen to let ou know that ou’re in volume level adjustment mode. Wh ou can’
t just adjust the volume an easier
is be ond us. It’
s the feature that ou would expect to access most frequentl with immediac . The up and down buttons
allow ou to navigate between different tracks. Keep in mind though, if ou have an voice recordings the will also show
up here
for our inconvenience. As far as we could make out there is no feature to create and save pla lists, however,
ou can create folders and put tracks into those folders for example cop ing Track1.mp3 to a folder name Artist. This can
onl be done when the device is plugged into our computer’
s USB port upon which it can be used as a standard mass
storage device.
It takes some time getting used to navigating around the AU822’
s cumbersome button functions but once ou do ou
realize how much more this device offers than what its inspiration (the Nano) does.
Voice recording
This feature works rather well. All voice clips are recorded in WAV format and thanks to the AU822’
s sensitive built
microphone it allows ou to record conversations discreetl too if that’
s what ou have in mind. The screen offers plent
of useful information when in record mode such as time elapsed and total recording time available.
In our tests we found that the qualit of the voice recordings were fair. Voices sound a little muffled and subdued this is
due to the 32Khz recording nonetheless the were certainl picked up b the microphone and recorded conversations
were comprehensible.
FM Radio
Certainl the abilit to tune into our local radio station sound prett neat no? Thanks to this feature ou can also use the
AU822 as a radio pla er and we have to admit it does the job well. Audio qualit is exceptional and the tuning into
different stations is made ver eas . You simpl press the up and down buttons to fine tune into our station or
alternativel ou can press and hold on the buttons and the tuner will auto scan to the next station. The AU822 also has
the abilit to record from the radio as well. Each recording is saved in WAV format and ou have the option of
or ‘Long Rec’
with the latter being of lesser qualit but allowing for longer recordings. Once tuned into our station ou
can save the station b pressing the mode buttons and selecting save. Each save ou make will save the station onto a
new separate channel. Channels can be toggled b pressing the pla /pause button and the switch is instant.
Overall the radio functionalit is excellent.
Video player
The video pla ing capabilities of the AU822 provide it another trump card when pitting it against similar pla ers in the
same camp. Pla back of video is actuall quite good, however, there is a significant amount of image ghosting seen on
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the screen due to the pixels not being able to refresh quickl enough. The pla er also uses the AMV video format used b
man other MP4 pla ers. To skip forward or backwards through a video ou simpl press and hold the up or down (next
track, previous track) buttons. The fast forward speed is quite acceptable and it performs this quite smoothl too.
Pho os
Viewing pictures on the AU822 is just as eas as using the above mentioned features. You simpl drag our jpeg images
onto the device and it’
s read to pla them back in either a slideshow mode or manual selection. The onl downside to the
photo pla back feature is that images which are sized down to be shown on the AU822’
s screen seem like double pixel
images.
Music
Of course it all boils down to how well the device can cope with mp3 pla back. After all it is designed primaril to serve
that purpose. As mentioned earlier in the review changing volume is a bit anno ing as ou first need to go into volume
setting mode b pressing the volume (left) button. This makes changing the volume a bit tedious especiall if ou have
the device in our pocket and reach in onl to perform this function. What’
s even worse is after a period of inactivit the
screen which becomes blank turns on after pressing an button. Sort of like waking up a computer from standb , so if ou
were to change the volume whilst the device was in our pocket ou would first need to press an button to wake it up,
then press the volume button and then finall adjust the volume. Skipping through a track is a ver painful procedure and
when ou compare it to skipping through a video the results are kind of disappointing. It took us a pathetic 47 seconds
just to fast forward a 4 minute audio track. How slow is that?!
There are some nift pla back effects however, and this doesn’
t appl to just mp3s but also video files. Upon pausing or
stopping tracks ou get a nice fade out.
Se ings
There are a good number of configuration options to tinker with such as date & time, lcd set, language, power saving,
repla mode, and online mode. Online mode is basicall how the device acts over an active USB connection. There are
three options to choose from being: Multi drive, Normal, and Encr pted. You also get to see memor information,
firmware version and there is an option to upgrade it too.
Finall ou ma also like to know that when turning the device off ou are presented with a ver feminine “
B e B e
screen.
Conclusion
Overall we’
re quite pleased but at the same time quite disappointed with the AU822, there are so man things wrong with
it and et it offers so man cool features at the same time. The pla er is ver slow and responds with dela s while pla ing
back videos or music. Navigating through the menus and doing something as simple pla ing back an mp3 can be quite a
hellish experience. For first time users it will take a good while to get used to how the pla er works. There is no logic in
the wa the buttons work and so as a result this is definitel one mp3 pla er ou will be needing the quick start guide for.
While the design is almost a complete rip off the iPod Nano, if ou get past that aspect, the goof startup and shut down
screens, and the fact that it takes a while to master the menus ou will find that this pla er certainl has a lot to offer. It
is for this reason we bring out Tech-Gear’s new award.
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